I was wondering if you had seen
http://www.samberg.de/strukturen/index.html
It's in German, but not hard to translate (use babelfish or just brush up on your WW-II era panzer lingo!).

It breaks down the divisions by regiment/battalion (and mobilization/reserve units!) and also details another of the three significant military forces in the DDR - the Border Guards (several divisions strong). I haven't been able to find anything very detailed on the "Combat Groups of the Working Class", a communist party internal-security part-time force, that is the other East German armed force.

(And the East German Army was referred to as the NVA - Nationalen Volks Armee). Do you think Potsdam House is a covert enough location for a meeting? I'd think the GRU & KGB would be watching that location.

chico20854

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Matt Wiser

Good work, Flamingo! Just how bloody was the coup? Was it a "palace coup"
i.e. the generals walking in on a Politburo meeting and arresting everyone right then and there, or was it the usual (tanks in the streets, military v. secret police in open conflict, etc.)? I'd also have the AF's JBG-37 or JBG-77 (MiG-23s and Su-22s respectively) flying overhead to make sure no loyalist forces try anything "stupid."

Matt Wiser

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FightingFlamingo

Chico... no I hadn't seen that... but I read German well so the ORBAT will be updated shortly to add Border Guards... I'm and old wargamer and I have a bad habit of calling the NVA the DVA so as not to confuse myself with the other NVA... thanks for reminding me of my error...

Matt, I envisioned elements of the 40th Fallschrimjager Bn making heliborne assaults on politburo members homes at about 0330 on the date of the coup... pulling them out of their beds and liberating them from their bodies promptly... Other NVA units seizing key facilities throughout the country and uhh liquidating regional party members of signifigance... in a manner which was suitable... AF units flying air cover until FRG entry then displacing to airfields in the FRG... Border Guard units, open up the IGB starting early (0700 the first day of the coup.) Border Guards on the Czech and Polish borders basically get wiped out by WP units from those countries as they move into the DDR. The Berlin Border Guard units attack Soviet sector checkpoints as FRG crosses the IGB. On the first day of the Coup, Stasi HQ in Berlin is bombed, and destroyed in the resulting fire. No documention has ever been found identifing the responsible party(ies) [ 1 USAF B2 deploying 1 500lb Fuel Air Explosive GPS guided bomb ]
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Cold Blue Steel - the spirit of the bayonet

FightingFlamingo

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FightingFlamingo

I used Potsdam house because it was US controlled since 1945 and had existing liason contacts with the NVA. I don't mean to have anything other than the initial "somethings in the works" and "We need to talk to the FRG" conversations as happening at that location. Other plotters locales remain to be determined.